Benildean filmmakers earn Urian nods

News bullet:

TWO alumni of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde Digital Filmmaking program (BenildeFilm) will vie for the Best Short Film award at the 41st Gawad Urian on June 14 at the ABS-CBN Vertis Tent in Quezon City.

Set in the year 2003, Caramel Child tells the story of Katherine Kaye Jones (Angelica Ulip), or Kakay, the daughter of a call girl, Ellie Pilorin (Sue Prado), and an absent American man. A poster of the Regional Science Quiz Bee and her mother’s American client (Savino Bellini) will trigger Kakay’s curiosity and determination to look for her father.

Caramel Child brought home Best Film, Best Director (Timan), Best Screenplay (Timan and Lino Balmes), Best Performer (Ulip) and Best Musical Score (Marcus Santos and Joseph Salcedo) at Pelikultura: The CALABARZON Film Festival 2018. The film also received the Best Screenplay award at De La Salle University’s Indie Un-film Festival 2017 and it is also one of the finalists in the short film category of Cinema One Originals Festival last November.

On the other hand, Sorry for the Inconvenience is about a timid teenager (Ronwaldo Martin) who comes home one night after being beaten up by the school’s bully. With revenge on his mind, the teenager decides to take matters into his own hands. When things don’t go as planned, he is left with no choice but to seek help from his policeman father (Simon Ibarra).

Sorry for the Inconvenience won Best Short Film at Cinema One Originals last year and it also competed at the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival.

Meanwhile, Respeto leads the Best Film race with 12 nominations, followed by Balangiga: Howling Wilderness with 10 nods, Tu Pug Imatuy with nine, The Chanters with seven, and Bhoy Intsik and Birdshot with six apiece.

The Natatanging Gawad Urian will be given this year to jazz pianist, composer and musical director Winston Raval.